The Walking Dead: One-hundred Years Behind
by Nicholas.Serina
Summary: The first installment of the "One-hundred Years Behind" Story Arch.


I found it increasingly harder to remember my old life. My memories were hazy; I tried my hardest to remember what a normal day used to be like, but I just couldn't grip onto any memories I had hidden in my cloudy mind. I was never sure if it's because I couldn't remember or because I didn't want to remember. Things were now so different and so was the world I lived in, I wasn't sure if I could handle the fucked up nature of what things had become. The only memories I had stored in my mind are of my sins, and they followed me around every moment of my life, they were my only company.  
I had been on my own for one hundred and sixty-two days, just a ghost traveling the now forgotten roads of Florida. It was getting dark and the faint wind blew through my now tangled brown wavy hair, I felt the breeze seeping through the rips in my shirt and jeans, it was a welcomed breeze after suffering weeks of the blazing sun and its heat. I never could seem to get used to this hot weather. I headed back to the house where I have been sleeping for the last few nights; I kept a careful eye on the forest, which surrounded the secluded broken house. After taking some time to search the perimeter for any unwanted guests I finally disappeared past the threshold of someone else's forgotten home. The house was dark and all seemed the same as I had left it, feeling somewhat satisfied with my checks I retired to an empty room where I had called home for the past three nights.

Collapsing into the corner of the darkened room I threw my head back and sighed. I was beyond exhausted and hadn't eaten in days. My willpower to keep going was beginning to break. I had always thought of myself as a mentally strong man, I had fought all my life and survived but since the world had gone to shit overnight I felt myself losing the on-going battle. My strength to carry on was dwindling. My head was spinning wildly from exhaustion and my stomach ached, the agonizing pain of starvation grew every day and sooner or later I wouldn't have the energy to survive.

I needed to distract myself from the increasing agony by indulging in a rare moment of humanity. Humoring myself with emotions was exceedingly rare for me, I often blocked out emotions as I didn't like to let weakness control me, I was detached from all parts in my mind which once made me human. I pulled a crumpled photo from my back pocket and gazed at the smiling faces of my family, I felt my heart warm as I thought about my loving family; My mother, father, and my sister. The torn photo was all I had left of my past life and memories and it was all I needed to keep going in this new world, feeling the tears begin to form in the corners of my eyes I kissed each of the faces of the family before slipping it back into my pocket. I felt the tears falling down my filthy cheeks.  
"Come on" I whispered to myself wiping my now moist cheeks "Pull yourself together"

I didn't sleep much anymore, just drifted in and out of consciousness; living with flesh eating monstrosities roaming the earth didn't allow much time for rest. Before closing my eyes I performed my ritual I did every night, I pulled my gun out of my holster and left it loose in my fingers next to me. I slowly closed my eyes listening to the wind picking up outside, it soothed me listening to the wind intertwining with the grass and trees outside, it made me think of home and caused me to drift into a shallow slumber.

The sound of a shattering window threw me from my unconsciousness; my eyes bolted open to see the darkness, which cloaked the small room, I leaped from the floor and silently dragged myself over to the window only to see that a portion of brick had been thrown into the house. Close to where I was a group of Walkers began dragging themselves towards the house, attracted to the loud clash of the window shattering. Panicking I quickly shoved my belongings into a rucksack and was ready to run; I crept towards the stairs and could hear the breathing and gargling of the beasts beginning to make their way towards the house. My heart was beating so loud I could feel it pounding in my ears; fear was pulling the air from my lungs making it harder to control my breathing. I had no time to compose myself as I cautiously stepped down half the stairs and could see them just approaching the doorway. My only option was to escape through the front door but if I fired my gun they'd all come swarming through my only escape route. My only choice was to make a run for it and shove past them. I held my gun in one hand and a knife in the other; I crossed my wrists so my gun was sitting above my knife ready to use either one of them. I continued slowly down the stairs until I was meters away from the door, with one last deep breath I made a break for it.

I charged into the first Walker shoving my knife deep into its hollow skull and ripping it back out causing blood to spurt from the wound, the rest of the roamers noticed it go down and their hungry eyes bolted to me. There were four Walkers blocking my escape towards the trees and others swiftly turning and approaching behind me, I jabbed one in the temple causing it to flop to the ground and shooting three others closest to me, I sprinted towards the trees hoping I'd lose the undead in the darkness of the night, but I would have no luck. As I weaved around the trees trying to lose my unwanted following with only more joining the herd, all snarling with hunger as they chased me through the black forest. I heart was racing and my breath was running out, I could feel self getting slower and their growls growing louder, I felt absolutely hopeless. I knew I wouldn't be able to survive this marathon if I didn't try to take some of them down; I glanced over my shoulder as I leapt over a fallen branch and saw three which were alarmingly close to me, a great distance in front of the others. Making a decision I knew was incredibly risky I stopped and spun on my heels and fired two bullets taking two of them down, leaving one just meters away from me. I took a sharp breath before firing a shot at the last corpse missing its brain and only scraping the skull of the monster; it lunged at me grabbing my leg. I screamed falling to the floor and dropping my gun and knife, I flailed my legs violently trying to throw the monster away but it gripped tight of my ankle refusing to release its bony fingers from my flesh. It's gaping mouth snapped at my shoes as I struggled to reach for my gun, I could hear the rest rapidly approaching from behind and all I could think that this was it for me; this was how I was going to die.

I felt my racing heart hardened in my chest and my mind froze with fear as I felt weakness consume me in my last moments. In previous encounters with death I had always fought as hard as possible for my life but in this moment my body had given up on me. I couldn't let this be the end for me. As the Walker groaned in hunger while pulling his mangled teeth closer to my ankle, I plucked up one last moment of strength and kicked the Walkers hand from me. With my newfound freedom I lunged for my gun, my fingertips just reaching the trigger, the Walker pounced on me falling down onto my body. I raised my arm keeping the chomping jaws away from my neck, cold sticky blood dripped from the Walkers mouth onto my neck as its jagged teeth were only inches away. With one last grunt I pulled up my gun and fired the last bullet into its white starving eyes, the bullet ruptured through the brain of the beast splattering blood and brains all over me completely covering me in its cold black blood. I threw the Walkers body from on top of me and let out a huge sigh of relief, but I didn't have time to compose myself as I looked up and saw the slower ones getting dangerously close. I leapt up to my feet grabbing my knife and began sprinting through the trees trying to lose the approaching dead, I didn't know how long I would be running for but I had to keep going, even if it took me all night to lose them.  
My breath was getting shallow; my muscles were burning with every footstep I took. I didn't know how long I'd been running for but I knew time was running out once again, there were now about eight Walkers running after me now; more had joined them, just my luck.  
My heart beat in her ears loudly as the moans and groans of the Walkers behind her grew louder as I involuntary slowed my pace, I turned my head slightly to see the monsters approaching when I tripped and fell to the hard ground. I felt pain surge through my skull as my head struck the floor; blood began trickling from the gaping wound, which slid down my forehead and into my eyes blinding me. I attempted to push myself back to my feet but my tired knees gave way in defeat, after running throughout the night the sun was beginning to rise from over the trees, which began to illuminate the dark sky. I faced down on the hard ground panting wildly as I fought to pull self back up but my body was betraying me; I could hear the grunting of the Walkers behind me finally approaching. There was no hope for me now. I felt an intense warmth come over my body. My eyes become too heavy to keep open, and I give in.

My eyes open, but my vision is heavily blurred. I can barely make out what is in front of me. I look around and saw that I had an IV drip in my arm and felt the stiches that the used to sew up my head. My body was still weak and I didn't know where I was. I was confused. I thought that I had died. I couldn't think of any way that I could have gotten out of there but I obviously have. My body relaxes for a moment, and I realize that things have gone pretty well for me recently. It gave me hope for the future. Right as I had relaxed my body enough to think, it tightened back up again when I hear the doorknob rattle and someone begin to come in.


End file.
